Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1887-11-17

preston that the walls were falling. None of
that moment the reporter had stopped TO look
in the cell. Lingg who had been lying down,
partially raised himself In his bunk and placed
something between his lips. IL looked like
cigar, and when Lingg reached over for the
candle and placed 1t to his mouth his only OBJ
server supposed he was merely about to take
smoke. A moment later the explosion dis
pellet that thought.
For moment everybody in tho Jail stood
paralyzed with horror To add to the terror
was the fear that the next moment the walls
would come topping over and bury all the in
mates beneath the ruins. But no crash OF fall
was soon over. Jailer FoIz was the nrst to act,
and was at hand when O'Neill recovered him.
self and flung open Lingg's door Through the
ribbons OF smoke IL could be seen that the
little cell was in great disorder. Books and pa
pers were scattered about the extinguished
candle lay under the table. the blankets had
fallen from the cot, and upon the floor and
clinging to the walls and furniture were pulpY
and hard substances the nature Of which was
mot at the moment apparent.
The prisoner himself lay quietly upon his
right side, with both hands hanging as though
in languor over the side Of the cot. Folz ana
9Ne sSasa h5 PRa ar fSr sp Itself Incss
head fell ON his breast, while from his mouth,
IL the black and shapeless orifce could still
bear the NAME there poured torrent OF blood.
The nature of the wound was open evidence
OF its method OF infection, The desperate man
had discharged an explosive in his mouth with
the design, doubtless, Of blowing his head from
his shoulders. He had failed Of his complete
an injury which, had it not ended in DEATH
would have left him a living monstrosity.
Many among the men who gazed upon the dy-
ing anarchist had witnessed death and dis
hguration in almost every form, but recoiled at
this horror. Linggs entire lower jaw, the up
per bony palate, the teeth, tongue, glands and
only the outer flesh, hal been blown out
through his lips, SO that his face from his eyes
down hung like hideous sack upon which his
nose was a shapeless protuberance. 1t was
teeth. blood, bones, and flesh upon which the
jailers trod and which they saw upon the walls
and furniture.
In the rush of discharging matter the lips
had been slit and distended so that they hung
in thick, welted flaps that stirred the blood
and ar from the lungs gnsned through them
first relief, he was conscious, and looking up
into their faces, groaned deeply.
Lifting him as tendorly as they might in the
excitement, they carried him from the cage,
out of the cell hall, through the office to the
bathroom, where cot was improvised. The
surgeons promptly washed out the blood
clotted cavity that was once mouth, took up
and tied several OF the arteries. applied anti
septic treatment TO the torn surface, enveloped
the whole in bandages, and lay the hopelessly
injured man back TO die.
It was perhaps in keeping with his character
that Lingg should face q death so horrible with
composure and retain consciousness and per-
ception OF passing events until the drugs with
which the surgeons filled his veins overc anne
him. Shortly after the dressing Of his wounds
had been begun he signed for pencil and paper,
and as he did so it was noticed for the tirst
tluo tnuI us nhuu was lno
thumb was broken and the flesh OF his fingers
lacerated.
writing block was held for him, and with a
pencil in his right hand he wrote the following:
~Besser aniehnen am Ruecken. Wenn ich
hege kann ich NIGHT athmen." Better bolster
up my back when lie down cannot breathe.l
With this request the surgeons complied,
and raised him INTO q sitting posture. Time
and again he signed for water, and this was adj
ministered him through long rubber tube
The instrument with which Lingg wrought
his destruction was percussion cap. In each
OF the four bombs found In his cell some days
before he killed himself there was one OF these
caps. An object so small could DO concealed
about the person of n man as to battle the
closest examination. The cap consists merely
of n copper shell an eighth OF an inch in diam
eter and three-quarters of an inch long, half
filled with illuminate of mercury, and with a
half-inch OF fuse attached. Yet this small OBJ
ject explodes with the detonation of gun, and
with what violence Lingg's wounds attest.
After the surgeons had dressed his gaping
wounds Lingg was prOpped up on rough couch
In the bathroom ana q heavy gray blanket
was thrown over him. The surgeons had
stopped the profuse flow OF blood, but expressed
no hope for his recovery. Hypodermic injec-
tons were made occasionally in the patients
right arm and breast and stimulants were
given, but they only served to prolong life
fast obbing away. The desperate man lived
exactly seven hours after the cap had exploded.
AT the sound OF the explosion, Parsons, who
occupied tho cell adjacent to Linggs, was on
his feet his face pressed close to the bars of
his cell, and, in n loud voice, he cried:
Give me ono OF those bombs. Iwant to do
the same thing.
Parsons was still shrieking out for a COM
panion-pieco to the Iingg article when the
deputies hustled him down stairs and into the
jail office, whore he and his fellow anarchists
were thoroughly searched.